THE Liberal Democrats are to call for the relaxation of UK drugs laws by moving to back an approach that landed one of their Welsh candidates in hot water in the General Election campaign.

Recommendations to reclassify ecstasy and cannabis will be put before the party's spring conference in a document drawn by up its policy working group.

Also proposed is an end to the use of imprisonment for possession of any Class B or Class C drug.

Moving ecstasy from Class A to Class B would take it out of the same group as heroin and cocaine and instead put it alongside amphetamine and barbiturates.

Last night, the proposed policies were welcomed by Gavin Cox, who faced a barrage of criticism when he advocated liberalising the law on ecstasy while fighting Rhondda in June.

Mr Cox, who works for the party in the Assembly, said, "These policies are not just radical, but common sense.

"If adopted they would free up police time - but they would also provide the victims of drugs and their families with far more protection than they receive at the moment."

The party in Wales has responded to evidence of increasing heroin use by calling on the Assembly to set up an independent commission into the impact of drug abuse.

Being discussed at ministerial level, the proposal will feature in the Welsh Lib Dems manifesto for 2003, if it is not taken up before then.

Possession of ecstasy currently carries a maximum seven years in jail, and life for supply. Downgrading it to Class B would, under current guidelines, reduce the maximum penalties to five years for possession and 14 years for supply.

However, Lib Dem delegates will be asked to back a proposal that possession of drugs in Classes B and C should be dealt with by community penalties instead of jail, and will be asked to consider the same move even for Class A substances.

Chair of the working group, Baroness Walmsley, said, "The status quo is no longer an option. We are honest about the current failure of drugs policy in the UK, and realistic and responsible in our proposals for reform."

The policy document adopts several of the proposals made in last year's Police Foundation report on drug laws, which were largely thrown out by the Government earlier this year.

And it follows Home Secretary David Blunkett's proposal to downgrade cannabis from Class B to Class C.